Mars Hill Church 'Jesus Festival' Quietly Disappears, Despite Raising $3,000,000 In Overall Donation

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/21/mars-hill-church-jesus-festival_n_5694788.html

By Yasmine Hafiz

Posted: 08/21/2014 10:21 am EDT Updated: 08/21/2014 10:59 am EDT


Mars Hill Church Lead Pastor Mark Driscoll, 36, preaches during an evening service on Sunday Feb. 11, 2007. | ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mars Hill Church, based in Seattle, Washington, has been under intense scrutiny for the past few months, following the eruption of a variety of scandals around lead pastor Mark Driscoll. The evangelical church, founded in 1996, has claimed to have as many as 14,000 members.

Now a new scandal appears to have emerged, according to Patheos blogger Warren Throckmorton and Mars Hill observer Wenatchee the Hatchet.

A much-touted "Jesus Festival" event scheduled for August 22, 2014, has reportedly disappeared from the calendar of Mars Hill, despite the fact that it was held up as one of the reasons why the church needed to raise $2,000,000 "above and beyond our normal tithes and offerings" by the end of 2013. A link to the celebration now simply returns a 404 error page.

Throckmorton reported that a former member told him that the festival was canceled in the spring, following the news of how Driscoll manipulated sales to make his book, Real Marriage, a New York Times best-seller. However, no official announcement about the cancellation appears to have been made.

more at link

[merrily]

1. As Scarlett O'Hara taught us, "Tomorrow is another day."

I have seen a few far right televangelists lie low for a while after an investigation, then return to more of the same.

Besides, as we all know, those who attack believers are doing the work of Satan. And that is no reason for believers to do anything but double down in donations, book purchases, etc. Or, so I've heard.

[cbayer]

2. I think he will come back, too.

Where do you hear what you have heard?

[merrily]

3. Where do I hear that those who attack believers are doing Satan's work?

From many preachers. The church that I attended as a kid, but even more, from televangelists on TV.

Also, I once had a religious group (in hindsight, most probably a cult) warn me to be careful.

The logic was that I was helping the group and therefore Satan would target me. They gave me a bunch of Bible verses to back it up, handwritten, no less, but I didn't keep that piece of paper. In hindsight, maybe that was supposed to send me running to Jesus, perhaps via the organization, for protection. If so, it didn't work.

[cbayer]

4. Sorry that you were raised in that kind of church and then got involved with another similar group.

Bad stuff, there, teaching hate and all.

[merrily]

5. I am not sorry. The church I attended as a kid had many very good, kind people in it.

Hate was not a big focus there. And I was a kid who very much needed good, kind people. And someplace I could escape to that my family would allow. They had zero clue what was being taught there, but it was church, so it was okay for me to be there on my own. (A church member from the neighborhood picked me up and brought me home.)

I learned a lot there, too. For one thing, whatever I know about the Bible is because they encouraged reading the Bible. And that knowledge has stood me in good stead when people who have never read the Bible cover to cover try to tell me what it says. In fact, it has stood me in good stead in many ways.

Bottom line: whatever didn't kill me made me stronger. At least that is how I like to see it in the rear view mirror.

As far as the client, I was an adult in business that was business. They never got into my head.

[cbayer]

6. Oh, that's good to hear. Hope you were able to reject the part about

Satan and nonbelievers. That's not a very good or kind thing, imo.

Churches often provide asylum and refuge for people, and that is generally a positive thing.

[merrily]

7. As I said, that was not a big focus there.

Satan was not a big focus there in general. And, perhaps not surprisingly, that kind of thinking is backed by verses in the Bible so it was not as though they invented it. But, it was just not a big part of their ministry.

I brought it up not so much to discuss my situation as to show that there is a ready answer for everything, including criticism of the church or of evangelists. Unlike you and me, the Abrahamic religions have had thousands of years to come up with an answer for everything that might attack them.

[cbayer]

8. I think this particular guy is going to have a real hard time

finding scripture that can cover his behavior.

I don't know if you are familiar with him, but he's a pretty horrible person. The problem is that he was really good at what he did and he roped in a lot of people and their money.

I'm glad he is getting a lot of publicity right now. It will make it harder for him to hide.

[merrily]

10. The ones who are not good at what they do don't make the big bucks.

The ones who do make the big bucks are probably good enough at what they do to make a comeback. Maybe not to the same level as their pre-exposure success, but enough to make a very comfortable living. I posted a few notable examples elsewhere on this thread.

[cbayer]

11. I think some also come back in different fields.

If they are truly cons, then the venue doesn't really make that much difference.

[merrily]

9. As far as famous evangelists who came back or never really got hurt much

by scandals or 60 minutes type exposes, they include Jimmy Swaggart (reduced ministry, but still a television ministry), Jim Bakker, the Crouch family (founders of TBN), Benny Hinn, Robert Tilton, Oral Roberts and his family, and others.

Satan was responsible for attacks against them and also for any human weaknesses that any of them may have admitted to, if any. Luckily for them, though, Christians are also big believers in the efficacy of repentance and the beauty of redemption, no matter how many times you may backslide and need to repent. So, as said, there is an answer for everything. Everything, with the possible exception of the sins (or alleged sins) of non-believers. For them, the only answer is becoming a believer. (Borg?)

[COLGATE4]

12. Elmer Gantry lives. nt

[cbayer]

13. Great book and great movie.

One I should re-visit. I see the video is going to finally be released next month.

This sort of thing never goes out of style.

[COLGATE4]

14. Burt Lancaster was absolutely terrific in

his presentation of Elmer. I don't remember the female lead actress' name at the moment but she was really good as well. A film that's as relevant today as when it was made.

[AtheistCrusader]

15. That whole church just smells like scam.

I drive past it every once in a while when I want to take the back twisties and scrub the chicken strips off my tires. The whole thing looks like a money collection facility.

And if my co-worker's giving levels are any indication, they probably have gold toilets in the admin part of the building.

[cbayer]

16. Agree, it's been a sordid story since it hit the media.

Even his parishioners are protesting against him.

[trotsky]

17. Seems like a cheap shot, cbayer.

There is no indication that he's a real pastor or real Christian.

[cbayer]

18. Here is another very good article from the NYT on Mars Hill.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/23/us/mark-driscoll-is-being-urged-to-leave-mars-hill-church.html?_r=0